RCC Coasts and Ocean Program
The work of the Rachel Carson Council on climate change and environmental justice frequently crosses boundaries; it eliminates the edges between issues. Our work in North Carolina, for example, focused first on huge industrial factory farms (CAFOs) jammed with hogs. Our concern dealt with air and water pollution, methane and climate change, the impact of hurricanes and flooding on CAFOs, and the environmental health and rights of those living around and working in CAFOs who are disproportionately poor, African American, and other people suffering environmental, economic and political injustice. Our work led us to the clear-cutting of forests, the destruction of coal ash pits, off-shore drilling, food insecurity, clean water, clean energy projects, both on and offshore, and ultimately to the ocean.
Like life itself and all species, the issues that concern the Rachel Carson Council ultimately connect to the sea. It is where, as Rachel Carson made us realize, all life began and all life returns. Until recent times, the oceans and our shores seemed too vast to be harmed by human intervention and use. Today, humans, in our arrogant belief that we can subdue and control nature and put it to our use, threaten the entire planet, its land and water, and all its ecosystems, including oceans, bays, inlets and coasts near which some 40% of Americans now live, work and play.
Rachel Carson began her writing and her work around the sea and its edges from the rocky coast of Maine to the beaches and barrier islands of North Carolina and on to the coasts and mangroves of Florida and the Keys. It is what she knew and loved best. But as a trained scientist, writer and advocate she also drew on countless scientific studies, colleagues and environmental organizations around the country and the world that also led her, though she traveled little, to concerns for farm workers in California, mothers and children exposed to radiation in the Arctic, and the growing destruction of marine life .
Given the history, mission and capacity of the Rachel Carson Council, our program on Coasts and the Ocean emphasizes the Atlantic Ocean and its large, heavily populated coastal regions, especially those that Rachel Carson knew, loved and sought to protect and where the RCC believes it can make the most difference.
N.C. Coastal Federation Takes State Lead in Salt Marsh Conservation Effort $50 Billion Plan to Restore, Protect Louisiana Coast Advances Through House Committee How Coconuts Are Being Used to Save New Jersey Beaches From Erosion Spearheading the project is the conservation group American Littoral Society, which said the coconut fibers help create “living shorelines” that provide an alternative approach to seawalls, bulkheads and other structures traditionally used to stabilize land. Read more North Carolina Beach Houses Have Fallen Into the Ocean. Is There a Fix? Click here for Past Issues of the RCC Coasts and Ocean Observer Click here for Previous Coasts and the Ocean NewsLatest News About Coasts and the Oceans
The N.C. Carolina Coastal Federation is leading an initiative for the North Carolina Salt Marsh Conservation Action Plan. Read more
Louisiana’s most recent plan to restore and protect its coast at a cost of $50 billion advanced Wednesday through the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment. Read more
Logs made of coconut fibers are helping protect and restore coastal habitats along the New Jersey shoreline.
New studies show that both beach nourishments and buyouts in Rodanthe, N.C., would be costly. But no funding for any fix is in sight. Read more
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